Paranoia: The Psychology of Persecutory Delusions

Paranoia is the suspicion that other intend to cause you harm. It is a common experience in the general population, though often overlooked. In its most severe form, paranoia occurs as persecutory delusions.

Paranoia, written by leading researchers in this field, is the first cognitive psychology book to have persecutory delusions as its focus. Scholarly, comprehensive and illustrated by clinical examples throughout, this study defines the phenomena in detail and analyses the content of persecutory delusions. It reviews previous psychological writings, explores the relationship between psychosis and neurosis, reports on innovative empirical studies with patients, and highlights future essential research directions.

Paranoia outlines a new theoretical model of the formation and maintenance of persecutory delusions, providing an excellent guide to this important clinical topic. It will be of great interest and use to all psychiatrists and clinical psychologists who work in this field.

Daniel Freeman is Lecturer in Clinical Psychology, Department of Psychology, Institute of Psychiatry, King's College London and Honorary Clinical Psychologist, South London and Maudsley NHS Trust.

Philippa A. Garety is Professor of Clinical Psychology, Department of Psychology, Institute of Psychiatry, King's College London and Honorary Consultant Clinical Psychologist and Trust Head of Psychology, South London and Maudsley NHS Trust.